Training for you who sell plant protection products
Innehållsförteckning:
Companies distributing or selling plant protection products must have a trained person available to advise the customers. The trained person must hold a valid training certificate for this purpose. The training offered in Sweden is given by the Country Administrative Board in accordance with a syllabus decided by the Swedish Chemicals Agency. The training is coordinated with the Swedish Board of Agriculture's training for users of plant protection products outdoors.
Trained person requirement for selling
If your company distributes or sells plant protection products to professional users or to the general public, the company must have a trained person available to advise the customers. The trained person must have completed a training and obtained a certificate as a distributor of plant protection products. This applies to all actors in a supply chain and also when selling through e-commerce. The certificate must be renewed no later than every fifth course season (approximately every five years).
The role of the trained person is to give the customer advice on the safe and correct use of the products. This requires a high level of competence and knowledge. The basic and renewal training courses for distributors given in Sweden are therefore based on, and fully coordinated with, the training courses for professional users of plant protection products outdoors.
Note; the requirement of a trained person to advise customers applies to sales of all three of the Swedish pesticide authorisation classes: class 1 and 2 for professional users holding a permit, and class 3 for the general public and for professional use that does not require training and personal permit.
Read more here about rules for companies selling plant protection products
The County Administrative Boards provide coordinated training for distributors and users
In Sweden, the County Administrative Boards (Länsstyrelserna) provide the courses and issue the training certificates for distributors of plant protection products, on behalf of the Swedish Chemicals Agency (Kemikalieinspektionen). They also provide the training for professional users of plant protection products outdoors, on behalf of the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
This makes it possible to fully coordinate these courses. The same training certificate gives both competence as a trained distributor of plant protection products (for sales to both professional users and to the general public), and the qualifications to apply for a permit for professional use outdoors. Please see the website of the Swedish Agricultural Board for further information and for registering for a training course.
If you have received your training certificate as a distributor based on a course for use in and around greenhouses:
- You retain your competence as a distributor until the renewal date for the training certificate.
- At renewal, you must obtain a valid certificate for use outdoors to retain your competence as distributor.
On the website of the Swedish Board of Agriculture you can find information on how to obtain an outdoor use certificate, by participating in a one day orientation course (in Swedish; inriktningsdag). The change became necessary as the greenhouse training will no longer be given by the County Administrative Boards, and no coordination with distributor training is then possible.
A training requirement for distributors is stated in the EU Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, and has been implemented into Swedish legislation, i.e. the Swedish Pesticides Ordinance and in the Swedish Chemicals Agency’s Pesticides Regulations.
Course registration
You register for the courses on the website of the Swedish Board of Agriculture. To obtain a valid certificate for distributing and selling plant protections products you take a four-days basic course on outdoor use. To renew the certificate after five course seasons, you must take the renewal course on use outdoors.
For those holding a basic course certificate for use in and around greenhouses, and who wish to renew the competence as distributor, an orientation day (inriktningsdag) for outdoor use is necesssary.
Register for the courses on the Swedish Board of Agriculture website External link.
If you have questions or would like more information, please contact the Swedish Chemicals Agency or the County Administrative Board that provides the course you are interested in.
Read more in the rules
The Pesticides Ordinance (2014:425) (in Swedish) External link.
The Swedish Chemicals Agency Pesticides Regulations (KIFS 2022:3) (in Swedish)
The EU Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (Directive 2009/128/EC) External link.